Peter Carey recommends The
Fictions of Bruno Schulz

Two-time Man Booker Prize winner Peter Carey’s recommendation speaks directly to his own qualities as a writer. Carey once said of himself, “people call me a fabulist, a surrealist, even a historical novelist.” One could easily add satirist, mystery and even science fiction writer. Carey takes risks so we don’t have to, and in the process transports us to places where we might not otherwise think to go. The author he’s picked here is characterised by a similar artistic fearlessness. The Polish Jewish writer Bruno Schulz is more often overlooked than not, but once discovered he tends to inspire evangelical fervour, not least from other writers — his fans include Philip Roth, Cynthia Ozick, Jonathan Safran Foer and Nicole Kraus. John Updike described him as “one of the great transmogrifiers of the world into words.” Schulz’s gift was to transform the lives of ordinary people in ordinary circumstances into something magical and spectacularly radiant. These are his two major works, both published when he was in his mid-40s, after many years working as an unenthusiastic art teacher. The novel he was writing when he was murdered in 1942 by an SS officer on the streets of Drohobycz, has sadly been lost. ©Alexi 2017 www.alexibooks.com

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, November 5th, 2017